As the third paragraph makes clear, this thought is connected to yesterday's
lesson about trusting in God's strength versus trusting in our own strength,
apart from Him. "The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting
in your own strength" (3:1). As the lesson yesterday said, "Who can
put his faith in weakness and feel safe?" (W-pI.47.2:3) So when we trust in
our own strength, we feel fear. When we trust in God's strength, we do not. Fear
is nothing to be afraid of, however; it is merely a warning sign indicating that
our faith is misplaced, and simply calls for correction, not condemnation.

That there is nothing to fear is a simple fact, from the perspective of the
right mind. God is all there is, and we are part of Him; nothing outside Him
exists. Of course there is nothing to fear. Fear is a belief in something other
than God, a false god, an idol with power that opposes and overcomes God. We
secretly believe that we have done so, and so we fear, but what we are afraid of
is ourselves. Yet what we think we have done has never occurred. Therefore there
is nothing to fear. "Nothing real can be threatened" (T-In.2:2).

If we believe in illusions, fear seems very real, but we are afraid of
nothing. The lesson says it is "very easy to recognize" (1:4) that
there is nothing to fear; what makes it seem difficult is that we want the
illusions to be true (1:5). If they are not true, we are not who we think we
are and who we wish to be; we are God's creations, instead, and not our own. So
we hold on to the illusions to validate our egos, and in so doing, hold on to
the fear.

When we allow ourselves to recall that there is nothing to fear, when we
consciously remind ourselves of that fact throughout the day, it shows that "somewhere
in your mind, though not necessarily in a place you recognize as yet, you have
remembered God, and let His strength take the place of your weakness"
(3:2). This is what the Text calls the "right mind." There is a part
of our minds--really the only part there is--in which we have already
remembered God! That part of our minds is what is waking us up from our dream.

Have you ever wondered how you happened to come upon A Course in Miracles,
and why it seems attractive to you? Your right mind has created this experience
for you; your true Self is speaking to you through its pages to awaken you. Each
time we repeat the thought for today, "There is nothing to fear," we
are aligning ourselves with the part of us that is already awake, and has
already remembered. Since we are already awake, the outcome is inevitable. But
we need this appearance of time to "give ourselves time," so to speak,
to dispense with our illusions and to recognize the ever-present truth of our
reality.